Paul Barron barronpb@marshallfoundation Director of Library and Archives

1. Issue-Oriented Resources: Congressional Research Service Reports, InfoMine, Internet Public Library, Think Tanks, and ProCon.org Paul Barron barronpb@marshallfoundation.org Director of Library and Archives George C. Marshall Foundation Lexington, VA 24450 Revised November 2011: Copies may be made for educational use only.

2. Objective of the Presentation • Introduce Congressional Research Service Reports, Internet Public Library, INFOMINE, ProCon.org, and Think Tanks • IPL and INFOMINE – Evaluated resources • Define nonpartisan • Review the scope of the sources • Demonstrate a Google site-limited search for CRS Reports and topical issues on think tank sites • Provide access to Portaportal for sources of CRS reports and think tanks WVPT 2012 NTTI 2

3. What is the Congressional Research Service? A nonpartisan objective research think tank for the U.S. Congress. Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/ WVPT 2012 NTTI 3

4. Mission of the Congressional Research Service “The unique CRS mission is to provide comprehensive, authoritative, and reliable analysis, research, and information services that are timely, objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature.” The Congressional Research Service FY2006 Annual Report http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/CRS06_AnnRpt.pdf WVPT 2012 NTTI 4

5. CRS Annual Report http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/crs10_annrpt.pdf • MAJOR ISSUES OF 2011 • Health Care Reform • Reform of Financial Sector Regulation • Offshore Drilling. • (Source of Debate Topics?) WVPT 2012 NTTI 5

6. CRSAnalytical Divisions (www.loc.gov/crsinfo/research) American Law Legal questions that may emerge from the congressional agenda Domestic Social Policy Domestic policy and social program issues Elementary and Secondary Education Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade U.S. foreign, defense, trade policy issues, and translations Government and Finance American government and politics, the structure and administration of Congress, the economy, public finance, and financial services Resources, Science and Industry Natural resources and environmental management, science and technology, and industry and infrastructure WVPT 2012 NTTI 6

7. CRS Products: Reports Purpose of a report - Clearly define the issue in the legislative context  Form of reports policy analysis, economic studies, statistical reviews, and legal analyses WVPT 2012 NTTI 7

8. Example of a CRS Report Title and Summary Pages WVPT 2012 NTTI

9. Example of a CRS Report Footnoted Sources and Author Contact Information WVPT 2012 NTTI

10. There are CRS Report on K-12 Education. WVPT 2012 NTTI

11. Question: how would you find … … the CRS Report RL30217, Performance-Based Pay for Teachers? WVPT 2012 NTTI

12. Highly Classified Information on Teacher Pay WVPT 2012 NTTI

13. CRS Products Distribution Policy “I have concluded that prior approval should now be required at the division or office level before products are distributed to members of the public. This policy is effective immediately." CRS Director Daniel P. Mullohan "Distribution of CRS Products to Non-Congressionals" http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/crs032007.pdf http://tinyurl.com/3cqjt5 WVPT 2012 NTTI 13

14. INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resources http://infomine.ucr.edu/ WVPT 2012 NTTI

15. INFOMINE Search Results WVPT 2012 NTTI

16. Library of Congress Tracer Bullets WVPT 2012 NTTI

17. Library of Congress SCIENCE TRACER BULLETS http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/ WVPT 2012 NTTI

18. Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org WVPT 2012 NTTI

19. The Immigration Debate in the Classroom WVPT 2012 NTTI

20. University of North Texas Libraries http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR/ Scroll down to view 19 categories of “Browse by Subjects” WVPT 2012 NTTI 20

21. Browse by Subject at UNT This is a partial list of the subjects. WVPT 2012 NTTI 21

22. Searching the CRS Reports on Immigration Number of results prior to refining search. WVPT 2012 NTTI

23. Sorted results by Title and Date WVPT 2012 NTTI

24. Records and Link to Full Report Select inside the image to connect to the download link. WVPT 2012 NTTI

25. Federation of American Scientists • Note that FAS has a Google Custom Search engine (CSE) on its site • Searches content entered into its custom databases • Returns results ONLY from the www.fas.org website • Supports Google advanced search syntaxes http://www.fas.org WVPT 2012 NTTI

26. FAS Google Site Search • You must add “congressional research service” to the query to limit the results to CRS reports. The Query “immigration policy” AND “congressional research service” WVPT 2012 NTTI

27. Search Results (124 results) NOTE All the results have the phrases “immigration policy” AND “congressional research service” in the results and all results are from FAS.org. WVPT 2012 NTTI

28. Google Site-limited Search FAS.org intitle:“climate change” AND “congressional research service” AND site:www.fas.org NOTE All the results have the phrase climate change and are from AEI.org. WVPT 2012 NTTI

29. CRS Reports on Portaportal http://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports Categories are organized by topic; for example, Agriculture, Foreign Policy, etc WVPT 2012 NTTI 29

30. ProCon.org – 44Controversial Issues NOTE There is a Sex & Gender Category that may be inappropriate for some students. WVPT 2012 NTTI

31. ProCon.org’s Mission Statement • "Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format." WVPT 2012 NTTI

32. Links to Micro Sites and “Learn More” WVPT 2012 NTTI

33. Issue: Human Activityand Global Climate Change WVPT 2012 NTTI

34. Background with Names of Advocates • Sources – Government agencies, think tanks, professional organizations WVPT 2012 NTTI

35. Pro and Con Arguments with Source Links WVPT 2012 NTTI

36. Video Gallery – Pro and Con Heartland Institute video challenging human causation of global climate change.Source: Heartland Institute, "Global Warming: Was It Ever Really A Crisis?," www.youtube.com (accessed July 13, 2011) WVPT 2012 NTTI

37. Readers’ Comments – What do your students think? WVPT 2012 NTTI

38. Learn More – Footnotes & Sources This is only a partial list of the footnotes and resources on the topic. WVPT 2012 NTTI

39. Learn More– Source Biographies: Individuals WVPT 2012 NTTI

40. Learn More– Source Biographies: Organizations WVPT 2012 NTTI

41. Teachers’ Corner Lesson Plan Ideas not Plans WVPT 2012 NTTI

42. Think Tanks are … • … non-profit research organizations which engage in public policy analysis and research, and often advocate solutions. • Some are strictly nonpartisan, researching policy issues without regard to political outcomes, while others main functions is to providing intellectual support to politicians or parties. • Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation WVPT 2012 NTTI

43. American Enterprise Institute - Conservative WVPT 2012 NTTI

44. AEI Papers and Studies WVPT 2012 NTTI

45. AEI Education Papers and Studies WVPT 2012 NTTI

46. Center for American Progress (CAP) - Liberal WVPT 2012 NTTI

47. CAP Publications Note the range of reports: business, economics, the environment, domestic policy, education, national security, and foreign affairs. WVPT 2012 NTTI

48. Articles on Teacher Pay Center for American Progress AEI WVPT 2012 NTTI

49. Google Site-limited Search intitle:”climate change” AND site:www.aei.org NOTE All the results have the phrase climate change and are from AEI.org. WVPT 2012 NTTI

50. Google Site-limited Search intitle:”climate change” AND site:www.americanprogress.org WVPT 2012 NTTI